State Labor Guidance
Free state labor-agency opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices, with plain-English summaries, current status, and the official source on every page.
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Minimum Wage Act Applicability
This L&I administrative policy explains who is covered by Washington's Minimum Wage Act (RCW 49.46): which employers must comply, the 17 categories of workers the statute exempts by name (casual labor…
Delivery Network Companies (DNCs): Driver Rights and Labor Transparency
This Division notice explains the Protections for Delivery Network Company Drivers Act, which covers app-based delivery platforms ("DNCs") like food-delivery apps. It requires DNCs to disclose pay, ti…
School Week and Work Week for Minors
This L&I administrative policy sets out the maximum hours and permitted start/end times minors may work in Washington, in both non-agricultural and agricultural jobs, broken down by age group (12-13, …
Attendance-point discipline for using paid leave, and the collective-bargaining-agreement exemption
A law firm asked the Nevada Labor Commissioner whether an employer with a collective bargaining agreement providing generous paid leave is exempt from Nevada's mandatory paid-leave law (NRS 608.0197) …
Out-of-state apprenticeship program reciprocity under the Apprenticeship Utilization Act
On behalf of the Air Conditioning Trade Association (ACTA), an HVAC apprenticeship program registered in California and South Carolina but not yet registered with Nevada's State Apprenticeship Council…
Prevailing wage on Tourism Improvement District projects, and retroactivity before TID approval
An attorney asked five questions about how NRS Chapter 338's prevailing wage requirements apply to Tourism Improvement District (TID) projects under NRS Chapter 271A -- particularly what happens when …
Transparency in Pay and Job Opportunities: The Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, Part 2
This detailed Division notice covers Part 2 of Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the nation's first job-posting pay-transparency law: employers must disclose compensation, benefits, and how/whe…
Payment of Earned Vacation upon Separation of Employment
This Division notice explains that Colorado employers who offer paid vacation must pay out all earned, unused vacation pay when an employee's job ends, and that no policy or agreement can forfeit alre…
Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship Program Requirements for Public Projects
This Division notice explains prevailing-wage rights for workers on Colorado state-funded public projects of $500,000 or more: paying market-rate wages and benefits, weekly pay, apprenticeship-program…
Foreman/general-foreman prevailing wage premium must match the CBA's base-rate-only calculation
A licensed contractor asked the Labor Commissioner to clarify the published prevailing wage rate for Laborers in the Clark Region, which was higher than the actual Local 872 collective bargaining agre…
Paying the same salesperson as both a W-2 employee and a 1099 contractor for the same sale
A solar-industry trade association asked the Nevada Labor Commissioner whether residential solar salespeople -- required by a 2023 licensing law to be a Licensed Contractor or its employee -- could be…
Senate Bill 82 apprenticeship reporting is not retroactive to pre-2024 public works contracts
Clark County Purchasing and Contracts asked whether Senate Bill 82's overhaul of the Apprenticeship Utilization Act (AUA) -- effective January 1, 2024, replacing the complaint-driven enforcement of th…
When a private project becomes a public work mid-project via a financing agreement
Sparks' City Attorney asked three questions about the 5 Ridges development: what records are needed to investigate a wage complaint if the project becomes a public work mid-project through a Developme…
Complaints, Investigations, and Remedies as to Retaliation or Interference
This Division notice explains how retaliation and interference claims are filed and investigated, and what remedies are available. It covers which claim types can go to the Division versus require fil…
Compliance Duties: Notify Workers of Their Rights; No Unlawful Waivers or Restrictions
This Division notice explains two employer compliance duties: never requiring workers to waive labor rights or agree not to discuss wages or workplace safety, and affirmatively notifying workers of th…
What's "Retaliation" or "Interference": What Activity Is Protected? What Acts Are Illegal?
This Division notice explains what employee activity is legally protected from retaliation or interference (paid-sick-leave requests, health/safety whistleblowing and PPE use, and wage-and- hour compl…
Summary: Retaliation or Interference Against Exercising Labor Rights
This short Division notice is a roadmap to the "INFO #5 series" on Colorado's retaliation and interference protections: what counts as protected activity (claiming wage or leave rights, raising safety…
Overlapping 24-hour workdays, split-rate shifts, and what counts as wages for overtime
A law firm asked the Nevada Labor Commissioner three questions: how the "week of work" and 24-hour "workday" definitions interact for overtime purposes, how to calculate overtime when an employee is p…
What Travel Time and Sleep Time Is and Isn't "Time Worked" That Must Be Paid
This Division notice explains when travel time and sleep time count as paid "time worked" under Colorado law. Sleep time of 5-8 continuous hours can be excluded from pay only under specific conditions…
What's Owed for "Time Worked" for Different Types of Pay, Hourly and Non-Hourly
This Division notice explains how the duty to pay for all "time worked" applies across different pay structures: hourly rates, salaries, commissions, and piece rates. It states that Colorado requires …
What Is and Isn't "Time Worked" That Must Be Paid under Colorado Law
This Division notice details Colorado's broader-than-federal definition of "time worked" under COMPS Rule 1.9: work an employer benefited from or permitted, required on-premises time, and the "continu…
Summary: "Time Worked" That Must Be Paid under Colorado Law
This Division notice summarizes when time counts as paid "time worked" under Colorado law: performing work an employer benefited from or permitted, required on-premises time, the "continuous workday" …
Differences & Overlap Between HFWA and FAMLI Paid Leave
This Division notice explains how Colorado's two paid-leave laws interact: HFWA gives accrued hourly leave (up to 48 hrs/year) for a broad set of health, safety, and family-care needs, while FAMLI giv…
Tip, Gratuity, and Service Charge Examples
This L&I policy gives worked examples applying the tips, gratuities, and service charge rules in ES.A.12: employers who illegally credit tips or service charges toward minimum wage, withhold tips duri…
Military Family Leave Act
This L&I administrative policy explains the Military Family Leave Act (RCW 49.77), which lets spouses and registered domestic partners of military personnel (active duty, National Guard, or reserves) …
Summary: Paid Leave under Colorado's Healthy Families & Workplaces Act (HFWA)
This short Division notice summarizes Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA): employees accrue one hour of paid leave per 30 hours worked (up to 48 hours/year) for a wide range of healt…
Permissible and Impermissible Methods of Payment
This Division notice explains what forms of pay, and payment methods, satisfy the Colorado Wage Act's requirement that wages be negotiable, payable on demand, and without discount. It covers cash, che…
Summary: "Wages" and "Compensation" under Colorado Wage Law
This short Division notice is a roadmap to the "INFO #3 series" on Colorado wage law: what counts as protected "wages or compensation" (hourly pay, salaries, piece-rate, bonuses, commissions, vacation…
Enforcement: certified copies, administrative liens and levies
This Division notice explains the two tools DLSS uses to collect on unpaid wage orders once an employer hasn't paid within 60 days: filing a certified copy of the order as a court judgment, and issuin…
Immigration status doesn't affect a worker's wage-and-hour rights
This Advisory from the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division reaffirms that every worker in Massachusetts is protected by the state's wage, safety, discrimination, and child labor laws regardless of …
DLS adopts the federal 'primary beneficiary' test for unpaid interns
The Attorney General's Fair Labor Division asked DLS whether the U.S. Department of Labor's newer approach to evaluating unpaid internships changes how Massachusetts' minimum wage law applies. DLS had…
Industrial Welfare Act: Applications, Exemptions, and Interpretations
This L&I administrative policy is the department's general reference on the Industrial Welfare Act (RCW 49.12), which governs conditions of labor — minor employment, meal and rest periods, personnel-f…
Overtime
This L&I administrative policy explains Washington's overtime rules under the Minimum Wage Act: the requirement to pay 1.5x the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, how to calculate the "regu…
Collective Bargaining Agreements, Employment Agreements, and Policies
This L&I administrative policy explains how collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) and other written employment agreements interact with the Minimum Wage Act and Industrial Welfare Act: a CBA can exc…
Waiving of Rights Under Minimum Wage Act Prohibited and More Favorable Laws Allowed
This L&I administrative policy explains that employees cannot agree, individually or collectively, to be paid less than the Minimum Wage Act requires — such agreements are unlawful and provide no defe…
Minimum Hourly Wage
This L&I administrative policy explains Washington's minimum hourly wage: the annual CPI-based adjustment process, that 16- and 17-year-olds must be paid the full adult rate while minors under 16 may …
Prevailing wage for truck drivers hauling barrier rail from a shared NDOT storage yard
The Nevada Department of Transportation asked whether prevailing wage applies to truck drivers hauling temporary median barrier rail between a BLM-owned, NDOT-leased storage yard used for multiple pro…
Labor Relations Rules and Procedures Under Colorado State Law
This Division notice covers labor-management relations under two Colorado laws: the Labor Peace Act (private-sector employees not covered by the federal NLRA, like agriculture, plus mass-transit worke…
Vacation payout on cessation of employment
Issued September 20, 2022 by the Wage and Hour Division of Maine's Bureau of Labor Standards, this interpretive guidance explains a 2022 amendment to 26 M.R.S. §626 that requires covered private emplo…
Payment of Wage
This Field Operations Manual chapter is DOLI's most detailed, covering how it enforces Virginia's Payment of Wage Law (§ 40.1-29) and Overtime Wage Act (§ 40.1-29.2): required pay-period frequency and…
Paid Leave under HFWA through Dec. 31, 2020 (COVID-19 categories)
This Division notice details Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) as it applied through December 31, 2020: employers had to give up to two weeks' paid leave for three COVID-19-specifi…
Agricultural Labor Standards — Meal Periods, Rest Periods, and Rates of Pay
This L&I administrative policy covers pay, meal-period, and rest-period rules specific to Washington agricultural employees, including dairy workers. It distinguishes "piece-rate active time" (paid at…
Recordkeeping and Access to Payroll Records (Agricultural Employment)
This L&I administrative policy sets recordkeeping duties for agricultural employers: names, addresses, occupations, pay rates (including separate piece-rate active/down time and rest-period rates), am…
Hours Worked
This L&I administrative policy defines "hours worked" as time an employee is authorized/required to be on duty on the employer's premises or a prescribed workplace, and applies that three-part test ac…
Minimum Wage Act - Employment Relationships
This L&I administrative policy explains who counts as an "employer" under the Minimum Wage Act, including when a corporate officer, owner, or manager can be personally and jointly liable for wage viol…
The executive, administrative, and professional exemptions from COMPS
This Division notice details the duties tests for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional ("EAP") exemptions from Colorado's COMPS wage-and-hour Order, which the Division construes narrowly an…
Anti-Retaliation
This Field Operations Manual chapter (labeled Chapter 11 in the text, filed as LEL-14) covers Virginia's anti-retaliation laws, Code of Virginia §§ 40.1-33.1 and 40.1-33.2, which bar firing or discrim…
Supplemental guidance on 4/10 schedules: discipline-related absences and extra shifts
The Nevada Labor Commissioner issued supplemental guidance on 4/10-schedule (four 10-hour-day) overtime rules, addressing two situations left open by Advisory Opinion 2013-04. First, placing an employ…
Student Learner Exemption for Worksite Learning and Apprenticeships in Certain Hazardous Work
This L&I administrative policy explains the "student-learner exemption" that lets 16- and 17-year-olds in a paid, OSPI-approved worksite learning program or a registered apprenticeship perform certain…
Paid Sick Leave - Normal Hourly Compensation
This L&I administrative policy explains how employers must calculate an employee's "normal hourly compensation" for hours of paid sick leave used under the Minimum Wage Act, including which earnings (…
Salary Thresholds for Exemption from Minimum Wage Act for White-Collar Workers
This L&I administrative policy explains how to calculate the salary threshold that executive, administrative, professional, and salaried computer professional employees must meet to be exempt from the…
Definition of Fee Basis in Administrative, Professional and Outside Sales Positions
This short L&I administrative policy defines "fee basis" pay — a fixed charge for a single, unique job regardless of time spent, as opposed to hourly pay, piecework, bonuses, or commissions — which ca…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Outside Salespersons
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's outside sales exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections. To qualify, an employee's primary duty must…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Computer Professional Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's computer professional exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections, covering systems analysts, programm…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Professional Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's professional exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections, covering four categories: learned profession…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Administrative Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's administrative exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections. It requires a primary duty of office or no…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Executive Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's executive exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections. It lays out the four-part duties test (primary …
General Information Applicable to Exemptions from Minimum Wage Act for White-Collar Workers
This L&I administrative policy is the umbrella introduction to the executive, administrative, professional, computer professional, and outside sales exemptions from Washington's Minimum Wage Act, poin…
Questions and Answers About Salary Basis
This L&I administrative policy is a 23-question Q&A on the "salary basis" requirement that bona fide executive, administrative, professional, and computer professional employees must meet to be exempt…
How to Calculate Overtime
This L&I administrative policy is a worked-example companion to ES.A.8.1, showing exactly how to compute the "regular rate" and overtime owed under RCW 49.46.130 for different pay structures: a single…
How this guidance is useful
- See how the agency reads the law: An opinion letter shows how a state labor agency actually applied wage-and-hour law to a real employer's or worker's situation.
- Check the status before relying: Every page shows whether the document is still active or has been superseded, rescinded, or withdrawn, and when that status was last verified.
- Guidance, not law: These documents explain the agency's position but bind no court, and the agency can change its view. The official document linked on every page is the authoritative source.
- Research across states: Compare how different states treat the same question, from overtime and travel time to tips and independent-contractor status.